Tests have revealed we have more toxins in our bodies than people virtually anywhere else in Britain.

Scientists made the shock discovery after taking blood samples from 155 volunteers from 13 cities.

They found that we in Newcastle had alarming levels of poison in our bloodstream.

The investigation was carried out by the environmental group the Worldwide Fund for Nature.

Its experts tested for 78 different chemicals including the banned pesticide DDT, 45 types of PCBs, which are also banned, and flame retardants called PBDEs.

Elizabeth Salter-Green, head of toxicology at WWF, said: "The blood samples taken from the people in Newcastle showed higher levels of toxicity, which can be a result of people's diets, exposure to household insecticides, pesticides, cleaning products and flame retardants.

"A person tested from the Newcastle area had the highest level of total PBDE flame retardant contamination, the highest levels of total PCB contamination and the highest median level of total pesticides including lindane."

She said everyone tested was found to be contaminated.

But we were among the worst, with an average of 591 parts per billionth of a gram of toxins in our blood. The worst was Nottingham with 646 parts, and Edinburgh was the best with just 176 parts.

Ms Salter-Green said the test showed the alarming number of chemicals, some like DDTs which have been banned since the 1970s, which have leaked into the food chain.

Mathew Wilkinson, also of the WWF, said Tyneside's industrial heritage was partly to blame.

He said: "We are currently working with the government to introduce EU legislation which will reverse the burden of proof so that unsafe chemicals will not be able to be brought into the market place.